Is it "Un-American" to not care about WBC?

[cjwct]

I found this interesting article on CBSSports and was wondering what people thought:

United States of Who Cares won't worry about WBC trouncing - World Baseball Classic - CBSSports.com Baseball

 

[Paul Wozniak]

I can't say that I'm very excited about this. Hardly the best team we could field. MLB is my only concern.

 

[anders5189]

I'm not worried about it.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

I don't care

 

[cybok0]

I don't care

Ditto.:up

 

[SamCdbs]

No, I don't think so. While certainly I would like to see Cuba lose, it not a substitue for, no a proxy for, that wonderful day when the communist party is overthrown there and its leaders executed. Other than that, who cares. I have spent considerable time in Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Dutch West Indies, and found all to my liking, especialy the Dutch West Indies. I certainly have no hate of anybody.

 

[neljtorres]

Because the owners of MLB don't want the real good players of the USA to play, but the Puerto Rico team is real good!

 

[Ramy]

I wouldn't worry about it either.

 

[Mr Tony]

couldnt care less....give me MLB instead

 

[BlackHitachi]

Because the owners of MLB don't want the real good players of the USA to play, but the Puerto Rico team is real good!

That and most of the real good ball players are playing other sports.

 

[vurbano]

could care less

 

[salsadancer7]

I don't think whether you care or don't care is what is being asked by the person who started the thread. IS IT going to change anything in baseball? NO. Are people going to go to less games IF the US does not will it all or at least finish in the top 3? NO. But it sure as sh*t embarrassing as hell to get stomped in a sport that this country invented and by a country who USE TO have this intense passion for the game....and is now being taken over by soccer.

I want Puerto Rico to win because the country I was born in lost it's passion for the greatest sport in the world to me...baseball. This team winning it all will bring back a little luster to the game back home. At the same token, I am embarrassed as hell that the US Team got smoked and didn't give a better game. Other countries try to send their best players because they know that THIS is the US game. And this lack of support by the US market is the reason baseball is no longer in the Olympics.

Though it IS NOT un-American to watch...it IS un-American to NOT support the team or the Classic.....at least in my opinion.

 

[vurbano]

The coach doesnt care either:

Team USA makes a mockery of WBC mission - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

 

[cybok0]

I don't think whether you care or don't care is what is being asked by the person who started the thread. IS IT going to change anything in baseball? NO. Are people going to go to less games IF the US does not will it all or at least finish in the top 3? NO. But it sure as sh*t embarrassing as hell to get stomped in a sport that this country invented and by a country who USE TO have this intense passion for the game....and is now being taken over by soccer.

I want Puerto Rico to win because the country I was born in lost it's passion for the greatest sport in the world to me...baseball. This team winning it all will bring back a little luster to the game back home. At the same token, I am embarrassed as hell that the US Team got smoked and didn't give a better game. Other countries try to send their best players because they know that THIS is the US game. And this lack of support by the US market is the reason baseball is no longer in the Olympics.

Though it IS NOT un-American to watch...it IS un-American to NOT support the team or the Classic.....at least in my opinion.

IMHO if it was baseball in the Olympics, then yes more Americans would watch/support the home team.

This WBC isn't the Olympics, it doesn't have the grander that the Olympics have.

OTOH many Americans are spoiled by their sports stars playing in the Olympics, basketball and hockey, but when you have a tournament during spring training, when players are suppose to get in shape, prepared and learning their team, no wonder managers/owners don't want their players to participate.

If I had C.C. as one of my pitchers and he played in the WBC, and he got hurt and out for the season with Tommy John surgery, I would be pissed.

 

[salsadancer7]

The coach doesnt care either:

Team USA makes a mockery of WBC mission - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

Then coach should NOT be there then, because then he might put players in a position where they might get hurt.

 

[SamCdbs]

salsadancer7:

I get what you are saying, but I make a distinction. Lets use hockey as an example.

Now back in the day, the NHL was a North American deal. Americans and Canadians. Western Europe had its own hockey leagues, and eastern Europeans were shot to death by border guards if they tried to leave the country, and thus played in their own leagues.

And idiotic people like Avery Brundage made the Olympics a deal of western school kids vs. communist professionals. Canada, rightly, refused to even participate in Olympic hockey.

So that made deals like Summit Series, the Canada Cup and Rendezvous 87 important and unique tests of the worth of the various values of different hockey leagues across the world, and thus the legitimacy of calling the Stanley Cup champion the "world champion".

BTW, a similar thing could have been said about baseball in that era, since Asians did not participate in US MLB, and a "gentleman's agreement" kept Mexican numbers artifically low.

Now, the NHL is the undisputed center of the hockey world. If you want to be the best, you want to be in the NHL. So now it has the Olympics or the All-Star Games of a few years ago. The NHL players reshuffled by place of birth. A meaningless exhibition.

That is what this is, leaving out the sad tragic island of Cuba. Its the best of MLB split up by country of birth (or country of great-granddaddy's birth in order to flesh out enough teams). All will be playing in the US/Canadian MLB next month.

 

[salsadancer7]

IMHO if it was baseball in the Olympics, then yes more Americans would watch/support the home team.

This WBC isn't the Olympics, it doesn't have the grander that the Olympics have.

OTOH many Americans are spoiled by their sports stars playing in the Olympics, basketball and hockey, but when you have a tournament during spring training, when players are suppose to get in shape, prepared and learning their team, no wonder managers/owners don't want their players to participate.

If I had C.C. as one of my pitchers and he played in the WBC, and he got hurt and out for the season with Tommy John surgery, I would be pissed.

Listen, I do not blame the owners ONE BIT if they say no to their star players playing for their country....regardless of the country. This just goes to show you how f***ed the owners in MLB are. They WANT and BEGGED for a tournament like this FOR YEARS...and now they won't send their best players....doing things half assed backwards. But that is neither he or there, this should be promoted and should be supported BY baseball fans! The reason US fans do not appreciate as much is because the majority of the players in MLB is American...the US fan can see them every day during the baseball season....ho-hum, who cares. In Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela and the Far East...they DON'T HAVE MLB...and they have to see their stars on TV ONLY! The ONLY country that got a little taste of MLB that did NOT have a team was Puerto Rico when the Montreal Expos in their last year, played 20 or so games in San Juan.

...and that stadium soldout EVERY SINGLE game to the point of the stadium doing some quick fix to add an additional 5,000 seats because it is a staidum that holds about 25,000 fans.

So when Puerto Rico gets a chance to see ALL their stars play representing THEIR country....it is HUGE! On Saturday night, I assure you that 75% of the crowd was PRO-Puerto Rican. NOT because the hate the US, but this was a chance to play the US and see our stars play. I mean how great is THAT??!!

 

[cybok0]

Listen, I do not blame the owners ONE BIT if they say no to their star players playing for their country....regardless of the country. This just goes to show you how f***ed the owners in MLB are. They WANT and BEGGED for a tournament like this FOR YEARS...and now they won't send their best players....doing things half assed backwards. But that is neither he or there, this should be promoted and should be supported BY baseball fans! The reason US fans do not appreciate as much is because the majority of the players in MLB is American...the US fan can see them every day during the baseball season....ho-hum, who cares. In Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela and the Far East...they DON'T HAVE MLB...and they have to see their stars on TV ONLY! The ONLY country that got a little taste of MLB that did NOT have a team was Puerto Rico when the Montreal Expos in their last year, played 20 or so games in San Juan.

...and that stadium soldout EVERY SINGLE game to the point of the stadium doing some quick fix to add an additional 5,000 seats because it is a staidum that holds about 25,000 fans.

So when Puerto Rico gets a chance to see ALL their stars play representing THEIR country....it is HUGE! On Saturday night, I assure you that 75% of the crowd was PRO-Puerto Rican. NOT because the hate the US, but this was a chance to play the US and see our stars play. I mean how great is THAT??!!

I understand why the Caribbean countries love this, if they had this when Clemente was alive, it would probably made it easier for players to come out of those countries.

I was just saying why U.S. citizen don't really care IMO. I don't want to be up all hours watching the games, and personally I don't watch baseball unless the Pirates are playing.

 

[snathanb]

Is it un-American to not care about MLB?

 

[Ramy]

Is it un-American to not care about MLB?

Yes.